It watched from the darkness, looking upon the intruders that found the hidden entrance with interest. It moved silently, its grey skin blending in well with the background that didn’t have any of the glowing rock formations that were prevalent here.

Originally it had come to check what all the commotion was, and upon witnessing the trespassers, was just about to turn and warn the rest of its brethren. But paused when seeing the male.

It had never seen a male before, heard about them, had them described to her, but never truly seen one or could really understand the wonder and the strange mix of feelings that assaulted her body when gazing on its form. Strange desires that it reserved for the more prettier of its sisters within her group, now reaching a fever pitch whenever her gaze fell upon the male.

She stayed well beyond what she should have, lurking around in fear that the group would leave sometime soon and she would never see the male again. But when they seemed to have relaxed and spread out, so did she and moved out of the cavern, now prepared to tell the mothers of what she had seen.

Moving deftly, she made quick progress back to her stone home, far faster than she had ever gone before without tiring. Reaching her home she warned her brethren of intruders and went to tell the mothers of what she had seen. Making her way to the larger of the stone outcroppings that contained their dwellings.

“Th-this one greets mother,” it said, with a hint of fear, but her excitement clearly showed through.

A very large woman came out, her body the same pale stone grey, but massive compared to the creature. More than six feet tall with two horns on her head, a rarity for her kind, she carried herself with confidence and savage grace. Wearing nothing but a simple loincloth, she walked around showing her well-defined body, built almost like an athlete. She had some smoothness to her form, but for the most part, she looked as hard as the rock she lived around. A hint of feral in her eyes, indicating she might be slowly losing her mind.

“What is all this then? Why have you caused this commotion? It better be worth all the noise…” she said menacingly.

The small creature shrunk inwardly at her mother's gaze. She was almost half the size of her mother, and certainly not as strong. She had some of the womanly features of her mother, but her sisters didn’t, most of it lost during their time here without a proper male or social order. Making most of her sisters turn feral and therefore ugly and mean.

“Intruders, in the cavern.” she gulped nervously, then with a hint of hesitancy and reverence. “They brought a male…”

The mother's eyes widened and immediately started questioning the poor creature, grilling it for information as it responded the best it could. After a few minutes, it was dismissed and told to bring out all of the tribe, not one was to stay behind.

After that was done, the mother went deeper into its abode to tell her mother and sister.

“We have a situation,” the mother said, entering into the room where a far older looking woman was sitting down with a cane, long greying hair falling down her face and wrinkles under her eyes. A rarity for their kind unless they were getting close to their lifespan.

The other woman was different, she looked younger and had the same black hair as her sister that just walked in, but her horns were shorter and so was she, only about five feet tall if even that. More importantly, she had two large leathery wings on her back and carried with her a stillness that some would say was unnatural.

The mother then explained what had happened, much to the shock of the other two.

“A male… in our cavern…” the old woman said with some disbelief. “How long has it been since I enjoyed the pleasures of a male…” she continued a hint of wonder and nostalgia in her voice.

“What does he look like! Is he handsome? Does he have a big cock!” the younger one asked excitedly.

“I don’t know.” the mother snapped to her sister, who was also technically a mother but certainly didn’t act like it. Then turned to the oldest woman here who was the mother of both of them. “Mother… This is an opportunity we can’t pass up! Ever since we were banished from the depths we had struggled to survive. Now we can change our life around! We just need to catch that male…”

The old-looking woman rocked back and forth a bit in thought before giving a slow nod of her head. “Yes… if we want to survive more than just a few generations, without the risk of going feral, then we need that male…”

She then turned to address both of her daughters. “We are all going, whatever the consequences, we will face them. Prepare the tribe, we leave in ten minutes…”

---

The only warning that Van got was when Azra started to meow and hiss. She had come out to enjoy the sights and move about to explore as the group did their geological survey. Spreading out and taking their time, dropping their defenses. A bad move.

Dozens of stone-kin, what were called troglodytes, started to swarm and surround them. They were about four feet tall on average, with black hair and some with two little horns. They wore rags and carried crude stone spears. They wouldn’t have looked that different from other women if half of them were not feral.

The feral half were more grotesque and more in line with what some would call monsters, with growths and mutations on their bodies and a malicious and sickly look to their eyes. The non-feral ones looked more pretty, some might even say cute, with an eerie statuesque beauty, as they nervously moved on the group with none of the evil that their feral counterparts showed.

Kella immediately started to shout orders, bringing everyone together and trying to inch their way towards the exit. The goblins surrounded Van and Luna as they made their way towards possible safety.

Van looked around, counting about seventy troglodytes as they made their way out. But it was not to be, as their exit was quickly blocked off by a group of about a dozen, waving their spears threateningly.

Soon, a group of three large stone-kin moved forward. One was a troll-kin, another was a gargoyle-kin, and the final one in the center was an old withered troll-kin with a staff of some sort and looked somewhat like a witch.

The young troll-kin moved forward to address their group. “Leave the male behind and none of you will be hurt,” she said with confidence, hands-on hip, looking for all the world like she wasn’t used to being denied any of her wants.

Kella moved forward, bringing out her sword and shield. “Over my dead body!” she menacingly hissed with barely contained rage in her eyes.

The troll-kin was somewhat taken aback, then looked angry, but before she could say anything the elderly troll-kin moved forward.

“Let’s not make this more trouble than we have to. It’s quite clear that your group is outnumbered and at a disadvantage, and all we want is the male. You need not lose your life for one person.” she said, only now realizing the dynamic of the group in front of her. Quickly coming to the conclusion that the male might be more important than she first thought, considering that Kella looked like a knight and the clothes on the male and what looked to be his mate were something that only nobles could afford.

This made her frown, for it meant that things just became more complicated than she would have liked, thinking that they only had to deal with a couple of adventures. But adventurers wouldn’t have come with a knight and a small group of goblins.

“The male stays with us,” Kella said threateningly, eyes narrowing as she prepared for battle, allowing no more negotiations of this type.

Should the elderly troll-kin have been in her right mind. She would have negotiated harder for a chance to ask for a male from the city in exchange for letting them go. But being so soundly refused before she got to say anything else incensed her aging mind and did not allow her to think further as her now more feral nature took her.

“A pity…” the elderly woman said, giving Kella an evil glare, then turned to the troll-kin and gave a nod.

The troll-kin then gave the order, and the troglodytes charged.

The line of stone-kin and the line of goblins met and clashed. The goblins giving the troglodytes a beating. Using their well-trained bodies, and the skills they learned from months of training, despite the small size difference, they gave it their all and somehow pushed the stone-kin back.

But it was all in vain. For the equipment of the goblins were subpar at best. The stone-tipped spears of the goblins met the stone skin of their opponents, dealing negligible damage. And the greater strength of the troglodytes and their numbers pushed the small circle of goblins inward. And soon, they started to die.

Van was horrified by the deaths that were happening around them until he snapped out of it and let his training take over. He then began sending balls of lights out, sending them in front of the troglodytes and blinding them to give his remaining few goblins a chance. Which helped stall the tide of battle.

Luna also seemed to have snapped out of it then, and with some hesitancy, began to fire arrows into the upcoming tide of stone-kin. While Kella dealt with the troll-kin and gargoyle. The elderly troll-kin hung back, watching and directing her children as needed.

Van then saw that the two Annas with them looked around nervously as they brought out their swords and drew close to their charges to protect them. He then remembered he had a few Annas left inside him and decided to bring them out.

Only, he couldn’t.

Van’s eyes widened in fear and confusion as he tried desperately to connect with his soul realm. Concentrating, he was just barely able to make out something that was being sent to his mind.

(“VA-!? R--! SOul SeAr! T-oll ken -s - SOuL SEER!”)

Van’s eyes widened, his connection with Ren was somehow being blocked, but he was just able to make out what he was trying to say. He was trying to warn him about the elderly troll-kin, that she was a soul seer and that she was somehow messing with his connection to his soul realm.

He then paled. Soul seers were incredibly dangerous, they could mess with the soul realm like no one else could. Their work was highly sought out, and being one was like being the cream of the crop as people would come to you for all manner of reasons. They were rich and sometimes famous. But they were also extremely dangerous and highly watched by several governments sometimes at the same time. They could, after all, temper with a person's soul realm. Like the elderly one was doing right now by applying pressure to keep him from using his soul realm.

He brought himself out of his concentration to warn everyone, only to be blindsided by the troll-kin who tackled him out of nowhere. Due to the tempering of his soul realm, Van did not realize that his perception of time was dulled. Normally when one tried to enter or connect to their soul realm, they could either make time go twice as fast, which he couldn’t yet because he had other people living in his soul realm and hadn’t mastered that technique fully, or have it flow one to one with the outside world. But the elderly troll-kin somehow messed that up and Van was actually standing stock still for longer than he planned to.

“Well hello mate, you and I are going to have a lot of fun…” the troll-kin said, leering down at him.

Van struggled underneath her, looking every which way, trying to get an idea of what was going on. Kella was fighting off a literal swarm of troglodytes, a small pile of bodies surrounding her, but whenever she cut down one, two took its place, even though she must have already dealt with almost a dozen of them.

Luna and Anna weren’t faring much better, the gargoyle kept jumping in and out of battle to distract them, throwing stones and spears from a distance as they dealt with the dozens of troglodytes surrounding them. They were also distracted by the fact that Van went down and was now dealing with the troll-kin.

Most of the goblins were dead, and so were the only two hobgoblins, leaving their bodies strewn alongside the bodies of their enemies on the ground. But overwhelmed, the last of the goblins fought ferociously, surrounded as they were, and died fighting.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!!” Van looked left and right for any sign of hope, angry with himself for not paying attention, and angry at the elder for messing up his connection to his soul realm.

“Open up lover, I get first dibs.” The troll then brought out a small pouch and shoved it in Van’s mouth, forcing its contents down his throat as he struggled.

Almost immediately his eyes began to dilate, and he realized with fear what she had just done. This wasn’t like a potion of eros, no, this was worse. This was the stuff to make eros, undiluted and unrefined and a whole pouch of it just went down his throat.

“Are you crazy!” the elder yelled at the troll. “I said a pinch! Not the whole damn thing! What you did is going to kill him! We would be lucky if he lasts a few hours!”

The troll grunted, “he’ll be fine. We have you and the medicine back home.” she yelled back. Then turned her attention back to Van and began her fun.

For the second time in his life. Van was raped. But this time in a dark dingy cave surrounded by the corpses of his goblins who trusted him and died for him.

“VAN!” Luna shouted, helpless to do anything but watch as she had to deal with the troglodytes. It was then she snapped, her sclera turning black and her eyes turning red with rage. She roared something primal and savage, all the years of abuse she suffered under the main branch, watching her husband be raped in front of her for a second time, her feelings of inadequacy, and all the work she put in making herself better to make her mother proud, plus a dozen other feelings she couldn't name, all came spilling out of her.

Like a savage barbarian taken by bloodlust and gone berserk, Luna started killing her enemies one by one in quick succession with brutal efficiency. All her lessons with her mother now making sense, and coming to her in a torrent. She saw a troglodyte and imagined the boulder she had to spend months punching.

With a crunch, a troglodyte's face caved it, with a snap, another one lost its neck as a kick took it away, with a stomp, a few lost their balance, opening them up to further attacks. Her hands came at them like sledgehammers, her kicks like a wrecking ball, and what didn’t out write kill them left them crippled as Luna came at them like a raging berserker, stealing their lives with a contrasting cold efficiency.

They were already taken aback by her shout, but now whenever they saw her eyes they froze in fear. And the way she brutalized them as she killed them made them even more scared forcing them several steps back, too nervous to approach the rampaging demon in front of them. Which was just fine for her, because she charged at the troll that held her husband done with a frenzied sprint.

“Wha-?” the troll said, distracted from her fun and turning around to look at what was going on. Only to be grabbed by Van’s hand and turned to face him.

Confused and surprised that Van still had the strength and brainpower to still act on his own, she gave him a quick glance. Which was all that he needed.

Van unleashed a ball of bright light right into the eyes of the troll, blinding and making her scream out in pain as it felt like the light seared her retinas. “I’ll fucking kill you!” she yelled, as she covered her eyes with both her hands. She was then promptly picked up from behind then kicked so hard that it felt like she flew as she landed several feet away.

Upon seeing that, Kella and Anna also roared their battle cries and ditched their fights to meet up with Luna and Van.

Kella rushed and picked up Van who was still Lying prone and unable to move, as his head was still muddy and most of his strength and blood now lay in his nether regions.

Still enraged, Luna killed anyone who dared get close to their small group as they made their way towards the exit as fast as they could.

“Stop them you fools!” the elder yelled to her children, causing a mad rush of the remaining troglodytes to try just that, but failing miserably. The troll now getting back up, angry that her fun was interrupted, and now charging after them as well.

It was now a game of chase, and the group ran as fast as their feet could take them back to the fort, in the hopes of finding safety.